So...this says that it is Day Seventeen, so if you are doing the math, that means that I missed two days. BUT I was in Limerick this weekend and had no access to internet, and I also posted two video blogs on my FaceBook to make for those missed posts. So if you missed them shoot me an email and I'll hook you up.
As I said, the girls and I went to Limerick this weekend! We left Saturday morning and came back Sunday afternoon, so it was a relatively short trip. Limerick was interesting...I don't think I'll be making my way back there anytime soon, but I'm glad I got to experience it. It is a smaller city to the south-west of Dublin about three hours away. We took a bus there (4 euros there and back!) and navigated our way through the city via taxi. The bus ride was fun because all of us staked out a spot in the back that was pretty much ours and had a good time. We also were able to see the countryside, which was what we were most looking forward to.
The country was very pretty; really open and VERY green. It was gorgeous and definitely worth the three hour drive. I'd love to actually spend some time out in the country, so I hope I have enough time while I'm here to do that!
We got to Limerick and checked into our hostel, which was like a cheap hotel. We got two rooms between the six of us and we had our own bathrooms; it wasn't what I was expecting from a hostel, but I'm not complaining! Once we got settled, we decided to go and look around the town a little bit, but by that time everything was either closed or closing. So we just kind of walked around and explored a little; we walked around the outside of King John's castle, spent some time in the cemetery of St. Mary's Cathedral and then found a pub to hang out at for the night.
The weather has also been really nice and very sunny lately, which isn't usually normal for Ireland!
The River Shannon runs right through town and we were on this really pretty bridge looking out over the river towards the "foothills." It was really gorgeous.
This is a picture of Larissa and I in front of the River Shannon and King John's castle. Unfortunately we couldn't get a tour of the castle when we got there, but we went Sunday. The tourist center talked about the construction of the castle, why it was built and what kinds of things happened there. It was built in the 1200s, for King John who never actually visited the castle, but it was built primarily for defense and was severely damaged in the 1600s. A lot of history (and some really low budget mannequins and re-enactment movies), but cool nonetheless. And because I'm such a history buff I thoroughly enjoyed it. We even were able to climb up the stairs to the different towers and look out over the town. That was SO gorgeous, but unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that because my camera died :'(
After the castle we went just down the street and walked around in the cemetery of St. Mary's Cathedral. Again, we couldn't go in because it was closed, but we enjoyed walking around the cemetery.
We spent a lot of time reading the different gravestones and just exploring. We found some pretty cool things; entire family plots, some really old tombs and crypts, and we even found some gravestones with Larissa's last name! It was really cool.
The thing that I really enjoy out here is the history...I'm so used to American history, which is extremely young in the scope of things. The stuff out here is so much older than anything over in the states, so it's really interesting to see these ancient buildings and artifacts. Very cool from my point of view.
This is Thomas Boyd's tomb - he died at the age of 82 on June 15th 1839. Cool!!
After the cemetery, the girls and I went to a local pub the taxi driver recommended, which turned out to be awesome. We watched the US game against Ghana there and then hung out among the locals while a piano man was (obviously) playing the piano.
It felt so nice to be back home in Dublin after our trip though. I'm really loving it out here - I'm getting more acquainted to the geography of the city, I am comfortable with the bus system and going to and from work, and also exploring a little by myself when I have the time. It's really great!
Anyway, it is LATE here, and I really should get some sleep for work tomorrow. We might be going down to The Comet for the "football" game tomorrow night so I need to try to get some sleep tonight.
Oh, go Google/YouTube Gaelic football. It's NUTS.
Goodnight!!
;)
